Design of output-feedback control system for high speed maneuvering of an underwater vehicle

In this paper we present a six-DOF output-feedback control system for high-speed maneuvering of an underwater vehicle with position and angle measurements only. The observer is designed and analyzed using a passivity-based control method. The main idea of this strategy, which has been commonly applied in electronics and robot applications, is to construct the closed loop system according to a desired energy function, and in addition add damping to assure asymptotic stability. Furthermore, by using backstepping technique in the controller design, simple solutions to the output-feedback control problem has been shown to exist. The case study is the Minesniper MkII, a low cost, torpedo shaped ROV developed by Kongsberg ASA. Simulations show that the control system is robust to external disturbances and measurement noise and provides satisfactory tracking results